This invention is a system for loading plant seedlings into a covered transport in a commercial seedling growing operation. Typically, a plurality of seedling trays in such an operation are manually loaded onto carriers. Two or more such carriers are then manually loaded onto a forklift for moving to the loading end of a covered transport, hereinafter also, a bin. The bin has its ends, sides, top and bottom fully sealed for protection from wind and other weather elements during transport to fields for planting, of which one end incorporates doors for loading. Each such bin includes a plurality of rails mounted to the inside of two opposing sides for receiving the ends of the carrier which form a plurality of vertically stacked shelves with enough separation to accommodate the height of the seedlings and unloading in the fields. The rails are spaced to accommodate a variety of plant types, each of which may require different spacing between the shelves.
In some other instances, some loading operations choose to forgo the use of a carrier. Instead, seedling trays are loaded directly into the bins. In these cases, the bins are structured to include multiple columns of vertically stacked shelves, wherein the widths of each column are approximately the length of a seedling tray, instead of the length of a carrier which can hold multiple rows of seedling trays.
Currently, carriers of seedling trays are manually loaded into the bins for transport. Because they are fixedly covered on all sides, top and bottom, except for the loading access doors mounted on the back end, the workers, one on each end of the carrier, manually place each end of the carriers on the rails and simply push them into the bin. Since the bin is designed to receive more than one carrier per set of rails, the workers must push all such carriers into the final position in the bin. This process is repeated for all of the shelves, beginning from the bottom set of opposing rails.
The seedlings grow in a very small plug of dirt and are moist to continue growing until planted in the field. Since the seedling trays each contain as many as 450 seedlings and since there are at least 12 seedling trays per carrier, these carriers are very heavy, weighing approximately 60 pounds each.
Since the carriers are heavy, manual loading is very time consuming and impractical. Importantly, there is a substantial risk of injury to the workers performing the loading operation. The loading operation involves at least two workers, one at each end of the carrier, cooperatively moving sideways to move the carriers toward the loading end of the bin, then performing an awkward bending and twisting motion to insert the carriers on the selected set of opposing rails in the bin.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a mechanical loading system for loading carriers of seedlings into the bins. The system of the present invention mitigates the need for manual labor and thus reduces labor expenses. More importantly, the present invention eliminates risk of injury and related potential temporary or permanent disability of the workers and related medical expenses.